The next presidential election is three years away, but Turning Point USA already knows it wants Vice President J.D. Vance to be the Republican nominee.
Erica Kirk, a leader of an influential conservative youth organization, endorsed him at the opening of the annual AmericaFest convention, drawing applause from the crowd.
But the four-day meeting revealed more dangers than promises for Mr. Vance or any other potential successor to President Donald Trump, and the tensions on display foreshadow the treacherous waters they will have to navigate in the coming years. The Make America Great Again movement is fraying as Republicans begin to consider a future without President Donald Trump, and there is no clear path to maintaining his coalition as different factions jockey for influence.
After a weekend of debate over whether figures such as the anti-Semitic podcaster Nick Fuentes should be expelled from the movement, Mr Vance has moved to open debate.
“I did not bring with me a list of conservatives to denounce or deplatform,” Mr. Vance said Sunday during the convention’s closing speech. He condemned “self-defeating purity tests” and said there was a place for you in the movement “if you love America.”
“We don't care if you're white or black, rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or a little boring, or anything in between,” Mr. Vance said.
He did not name Mr. Fuentes, but his comment came in the midst of an increasingly contentious debate over whether the MAGA movement should include Mr. Fuentes and his followers.
GOP after Trump?
The identity of the Republican Party has been intertwined with Trump for a decade. Now that he is constitutionally ineligible to stand for re-election, the party is beginning to contemplate a future without him at the helm.
For now, it looks like resolving this issue will require a lot of fighting among conservatives. “Turning Point” contained arguments about anti-Semitism, Israel and environmental regulations, not to mention rivalries between leading commentators.
“Who will manage it after?” asked commentator Tucker Carlson, summing up the main fight in his conference speech. “Who will get the equipment when the president leaves the stage?”
Mr. Carlson said the idea of a Republican “civil war” was “totally bogus.”
“There are people who are angry at J.D. Vance, and they're stirring this up to make sure he doesn't get the nomination,” he said. Mr. Carlson described Mr. Vance as “the one person” who supports the “core message of the Trump coalition,” which Mr. Carlson said was “America First.”
Turning Point spokesman Andrew Colvet called the disagreement a healthy discussion about the future of the movement, an uncomfortable but necessary process of finding consensus.
“We are not communists with a collective mindset,” he wrote on X. “Let it play out.”
Turning Point Endorses Vance for President
Erica Kirk, who took over as leader of Turning Point after the murder of her husband Charlie Kirk, said Thursday that the group wanted Mr. Vance “elected to 48 seats in the loudest way possible.” The next president will be the 48th in US history.
Turning Point is a major force on the right, with a nationwide network of volunteers that can be especially useful in the early stages of primary elections, when candidates rely on grassroots energy to build momentum. Rapper Nicki Minaj unexpectedly appeared on stage and spoke passionately about Trump and Vance.
Mr. Kirk's support carried “at least some weight” for Ciara Wagner, who traveled to the conference from Toms River, New Jersey.
“If someone like Erica can support J.D. Vance, then I can too,” Ms. Wagner said.
Mr. Vance was close to Charlie Kirk. After Kirk was killed on a college campus in Utah, the vice president took a second plane to pick up Kirk's remains and fly them home to Arizona. The vice president helped uniformed soldiers carry the coffin to the plane.
“I am honored to be on the Turning Point team,” said Mr. Vance.
Vance has Republican dissidents.
Not everyone in the GOP supports Vance.
Senator Rand Paul, Republican from Kentucky. said Mr. Vance represents a departure from the limited government, pro-trade and low-tax orthodoxies that have defined the Republican Party for generations. The Republican Party must stick to its roots, he said, and that's not Mr. Vance.
“All these pro-tariff protectionists love taxes. So they tax, tax, tax, and then brag about all the revenue that comes in,” Mr. Paul said on ABC's This Week. “This has never been a conservative position.”
Mr. Vance appeared to have the edge in the 2028 nomination, according to Turning Point members.
“It has to be J.D. Vance because he's great at literally everything,” said Thomas Morales, a videographer based in Los Angeles. He said: “There is no other choice.”
Trump has not chosen a successor, although he has praised both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, even suggesting they could shape a future Republican ticket. Mr. Rubio said he would support Mr. Vance.
Asked in August whether Mr. Vance was the “heir apparent,” Mr. Trump said “most likely.”
“Obviously it's too early to tell but he's definitely doing a great job and he'll probably be the favorite at this stage,” he said.
Any talk of future campaigns is complicated by Trump's periodic musings about running for a third term.
“I'm not allowed to run,” he told reporters during a trip to Asia in October. “This is very bad.”
The president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is close to Mr. Vance and favors his nomination as vice president in 2024. Mr. Trump Jr. echoed Mr. Vance's vision for the United States to take a step back from its role in global security and said immigration negatively changes a nation's identity.
“A country cannot survive if it imports people who do not share their values,” Mr. Trump Jr. said. “We owe nothing to the world. We owe the Americans for their American dream.”
This story was reported by the Associated Press.
